


Like A Carnival Mirror

by leiascully



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-25
Updated: 2004-05-25
Packaged: 2017-10-06 23:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: <i>The West Wing</i> and all related characters are property of Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, and NBC. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Like A Carnival Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: _The West Wing_ and all related characters are property of Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, and NBC. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.

She grabs for the phone, displacing her covers. The jangling stops and she lifts the receiver to her ear. "H'lo?" she says, knowing her voice is slurred by sleep. Her shoulders are cold without the comforter.

"Turn on the TV. Channel 60. Are you watching?"

"Josh?"

"They got it so wrong," he says, not seeming to be talking to her. Donna fumbles for the remote, trying to brush the hair out of her face at the same time. She drops the phone and has to hunt for it. Josh doesn't seem to have noticed her absence.

"Are you watching?" he says. "Look at that! Look at that!" His tone is incredulous. Donna finally manages to turn on the television. The West Wing swims into view. Something is off. Donna tilts her head, blinking sleep from her eyes.

"What is this?"

"Some show. About us. But not-us." Josh isn't making much sense. She turns up the volume. "They got it all wrong, Donna."

She stares at the screen. The bullpen doesn't have enough tvs. It doesn't have enough paperwork or secretaries. The Oval Office is full of Remington. That can't be right, can it? She hasn't been in the Oval often enough to know. Josh is rattling on in her ear, nitpicking.

"Have you been watching this all night?" she asks, not knowing where the question comes from.

"A while, yeah." Josh shuts up for a minute. "Why?"

"It's three in the morning and you said to come in early tomorrow."

"I thought you'd be interested," he says, in that careful tone.

"I will be tomorrow. Tape it and we can watch it together tomorrow night." She shrugs her thin shoulders against the cool air of her bedroom and the slipping straps of her camisole. Would it be enough for him? She is never sure. She waits and tries not to breathe loudly.

"I'll bring beer," he says, and the phone clicks off. Donna puts the receiver back on the charger base and tucks the edge of the comforter under her body. The casual intimacy they share is a wonder, but it bites into her downtime. She isn't sure how she feels about that anymore, not since CJ's lecture, but she doesn't have the brainpower to consider it right now. She breathes out his name on a sigh and drifts back to sleep.


End file.
